20GB PS3 Discontinued

[NERO]

Word from Dailytech is that tech store inventories are removing the 20GB PS3 sku from their item lists. As I've posted before not even Sony displays the lower sku on their website anymore. Any thoughts folks?

http://www.dailytech.com/20GB+PlayStation+3+Consoles+Become+Extinct/article6836.htm

 

[Diamond.G]

Word from Dailytech is that tech store inventories are removing the 20GB PS3 sku from their item lists. As I've posted before not even Sony displays the lower sku on their website anymore. Any thoughts folks?

http://www.dailytech.com/20GB+PlayStation+3+Consoles+Become+Extinct/article6836.htm

My thought? Until another SKU takes it's place the PS3 is now 599. Although, my gut feeling is that Sony is prepping for a price drop on the 60GB.

 

[NERO]

My thought? Until another SKU takes it's place the PS3 is now 599. Although, my gut feeling is that Sony is prepping for a price drop on the 60GB.

I agree they are prepping for a price cut but I doubt it will come this year. I'm of the mind that the tech in the 60GB will remain the only PS3 sku, but I wouldn't doubt that they would increase the storage space eventually. Maybe to an even 100GB.

 

[DJ12]

My thought? Until another SKU takes it's place the PS3 is now 599. Although, my gut feeling is that Sony is prepping for a price drop on the 60GB.

Or, they are forging ahead with the rumoured 80 GB version and the 60gb version will become the new base entry system.

Don't know what else they will add the to 80gb version though, hardly seems worth the upgrade to me for 20 gb.

 

[Diamond.G]

Or, they are forging ahead with the rumoured 80 GB version and the 60gb version will become the new base entry system.

Don't know what else they will add the to 80gb version though, hardly seems worth the upgrade to me for 20 gb.

Which should have been understood with my "gut feeling"/"SKU replacement".

 

[Gradthrawn]

Or, they are forging ahead with the rumoured 80 GB version and the 60gb version will become the new base entry system.

Don't know what else they will add the to 80gb version though, hardly seems worth the upgrade to me for 20 gb.

Why would they add anything?

Standard Model = 60GB HDD

Premium Model = 80GB HDD w/ Card Readers and WiFi.

Putting the 60GB drive in the base model doesn't mean it will retain the features of the premium.

 

[DJ12]

Wouldn't they need to get FCC (or whatever it is) approval for a 60gb version without the "premium" additional stuff if that was the case?

 

[pipo]

That would be a stupid move IMO. They need to get the price down. This way it'll stay high.

And don't give me the 'value' line - I don't care about BR and I'm not prepared to put down 500 bucks or more for a box that plays video games.

And I reckon I'm not the only one.

/rant

The only (good) reason for Sony to drop the 20GB would be to minimize losses on sold units...

 

[inefficient]

The 20GB will be back.

If they want to stay competitive in pricing they will keep 20GB the min spec so that in just a few years down the line they can easily move to a cheap flash memory solution.

The 20GB min spec has already been set. There is no reason at all to redefine the min spec and make it higher. Their features are already attractive enough. Their primary focus needs to be reducing the cost. Not making it more attractive by adding more features.


Moving the 60GB to 80GB makes sense - the actual manufacturing costs are very similar. The premium line should have premium components. The baseline should have the minimum possible hardware while maintaining compatibility with the original spec.


My bet is that what they are doing now is trying to completely get rid of 20GB SKU stock that they have left in inventory. And in a few months a new 20GB SKU will be released in NA/JP- and this time with a software BC solution like the EU PS3. This version will be cheaper to produce and eventually (if not immediately) cheaper for consumers as well.

 

[Diamond.G]

Wouldn't they need to get FCC (or whatever it is) approval for a 60gb version without the "premium" additional stuff if that was the case?

AFAIK you only have to submit info for FCC approval if you change things that can potentially transmit or resist transmission. Hard drives dont fall into that category (or at least I haven't seen HD's with FCC numbers on them).

 

[Arwin]

This is a totally pointless discussion, imho. But for what it's worth, I'll add to the conjecture pool that it may well be that retailers indicate they are not interested in selling the 20gb version, and highly prefer having only one SKU (very understandable). Perhaps Sony will reconsider this by focussing 100% on getting one SKU out there and getting that single SKU to the lowest possible manufacturing / price point. I don't know. It could make sense - always include Wifi if you can get the price for internal Wifi low enough (should be really cheap by now?) and upscale the HDD according to market developments (when, say, 60GB costs the same or less as 20GB, pick 60GB).

People can ebay-off the 60GB HDDs if needs be, and when the PS3 market has become big enough, you can start offering some kind of online ordering system with different options.

It could happen, but I don't know. It highly depends on cost, but I'm starting to see how the internal WiFi and Memory Card reader might become an irrelevant cost (e.g. less than $10 combined), and since the PS3 is always going to have a HDD and 60GB becomes cheap, then why not.

 

[DJ12]

Hard drives dont fall into that category (or at least I haven't seen HD's with FCC numbers on them).

The FCC is how the 80gb was first "uncovered"

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=40023

Might it be a case of the FCC needing to know if any changes are made to a previously approved product?

It seems to me that if it was Sonys intention to replace the 20gb version with a 60gb version sans the "premium" stuff then they should also have informed the FCC about that by now.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

The 20GB will be back.

If they want to stay competitive in pricing they will keep 20GB the min spec so that in just a few years down the line they can easily move to a cheap flash memory solution.

Is the performance of flash memory equal or better than how HDD performs in PS3? I mean if some game uses it for more than just saves, the flash memory will have to keep up.

 

[NERO]

This is a totally pointless discussion, imho.

How dare you sir!

...It highly depends on cost, but I'm starting to see how the internal WiFi and Memory Card reader might become an irrelevant cost (e.g. less than $10 combined), and since the PS3 is always going to have a HDD and 60GB becomes cheap, then why not.

This is why I believe that they have eliminated the 20GB sku. It has been known for some time that they were losing about~90USD more on the lower sku. I'm of the opinion that Sony will have only one sku, with the premium goods but possibly more storage space.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I think the reality has sunk in at Sony that they can't sell a $600 SKU. That they're going to have to go down to $500 and they can't really afford to drop the current $500 model to $400 so they have to eliminate it.

 

[NERO]

I think the reality has sunk in at Sony that they can't sell a $600 SKU. That they're going to have to go down to $500 and they can't really afford to drop the current $500 model to $400 so they have to eliminate it.

I think this year's holiday is the last hurrah for the 600$ sku. It is when all of the killer apps will come out and Sony will squeeze all they can at this price point. If they do settle on one sku, it will be the premium that cuts to 450-500$ bye the end of next year.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think the reality has sunk in at Sony that they can't sell a $600 SKU. That they're going to have to go down to $500.

So they lose $90 more (supposedly) on the 20GB than the 60 GB, and you're recommendation is to lose the 20 GB model and sell the 60 GB at $500, to lose even more money. If the SKU price were the issue, wouldn't it be more sensible to drop the 60 GB version? Release a lot of custom peripherals to improve PS3 20 GB abilities (card reader + wifi, official PS versions with markup). Why not also add an HDD less PS3 where people add their own, to get the entry price even lower?

For the record, the 60 GB version outsells the 20 GB version, so not being able to sell a $600 machine seems misconception. They're having more trouble selling the cheaper model!

 

[Crossbar]

I think the reality has sunk in at Sony that they can't sell a $600 SKU. That they're going to have to go down to $500 and they can't really afford to drop the current $500 model to $400 so they have to eliminate it.

If that is the case, can you tell me how they are going to sell Playstation 3 in volumes?
Of course they will lower the price this fall if not earlier. Sony is preparing for mass-production of PS3 as you can read here. It will probably have both the Cell and the RSX on a 65 nm process which will help keep the costs down.

I put my money on inefficents scenario.

I might add I think the low-end SKU will be subsidized while the high-end SKU might not be subsidized or with a much smaller amount, just like before. People going for the best model are usually not that price-sensitive.

I am really curious about the mythical 80 GB SKU, will it be called Playstaion 3 Elite and have two HDMI-ports?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

That's not what I'm saying. Sony's costs are going to drop substantially later this year when 65nm becomes standard and when BR costs lower. The marketplace is forcing them to $500 on the high SKU. If they drop the lower SKU then they won't lose as much money.

 

[Tap In]

...
For the record, the 60 GB version outsells the 20 GB version, so not being able to sell a $600 machine seems misconception. They're having more trouble selling the cheaper model!

Not a good indicator, since the 20Gig has not really been available since the NA launch. Most sources have been saying that retailers stopped ordering them months ago. this actually is the 3rd story I've seen like this in the past 3 months. (the other 2 were on NeoGaf where this is common knowledge)